According to the preliminary investigation being conducted by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Moraine police:

Moraine Police Officer Matt Barrie began pursuing a black Jeep on state Route 741 about 6:15 p.m. when he spotted the vehicle, which had been reported stolen in Harrison Twp.

A Chrysler attempting to avoid the pursuit as it traveled south on 741 rear-ended a Hyundai being driven by Mary Taulbee, 57, of Lebanon. That collision caused Taulbee’s vehicle to spin out of control and into the path of the Moraine police cruiser.

The Jeep police said was being driven by 18-year-old Alyssa Irwin Debraux ended up on its top near the Dayton Mall, on 741 at Mall Ring Road, a few miles south of the fatal crash site. Police arrested her at the Speedway gas station across the street. She remains in the Montgomery County Jail on preliminary charges.

Richardson said the officer’s actions were within department policy, which states that a pursuit is justified “only when the necessity of the immediate apprehension outweighs the level of danger created.”

When the pursuit started, traffic was light and the speeds were “fairly reasonable,” the chief said.

A Miami Twp. man who saw the aftermath of the crash said the officer was “disoriented” after the incident.

“I ran out of the house as soon as I heard,” said Spencer Schotz. “I was at the car before the officer got out of his car. He was kind of shook up, disoriented when he got up to the car.”

Schotz said Taulbee appeared motionless when he arrived.

“The car was crumpled,” he said. “ I ran over to the other side. Everybody else was getting out of their cars and running over to the scene. You could tell that the woman ... there was something wrong. ... She wasn’t moving at all. There was no kind of motion.”